What’s inside lipstick Pickups? | Too Afraid To Ask

LEt’s get jangly as we undress a lipstick pickup…

For the latest TATA video we tackle a popular question: “What’s inside a Lipstick Pickup?”

These chrome tubular pickups are found on Danelectro and Silvertone guitars, as well as occasionally gracing the scratchplate of Surf inspired Stratocasters and other instruments seeking a more quirky look and sound.

While at Thomann in Germany for TGU19 I had the opportunity to try out some Lipstick pickups in a Danelectro ‘59M NOS+ and called in the help of Ryan Burke of 60 Cycle Hum to help describe the history of Lipstick pickups in the context of Surf music.

I also take apart a cheap Lipstick pickup designed to retrofit into a Strat pickguard to see what lies beneath the cover.